Former Mexican President Speaks at UH

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox tells a University of Houston audience that building a wall won't solve border problems. As Ed Mayberry reports, he's calling for the legalization of drugs, among other fixes, to help solve Mexico's violence problem.

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Vicente Fox was president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, and was here to talk with students about leadership and spirituality, and the development of democratic leadership in Latin America. Fox addressed the struggle the United States is having with undocumented immigrants.

"Walls have never worked. And instead of building walls, we should be building bridges — bridges of understanding. I don't understand the leader building walls. The leader's showing fear."

In Mexico, Fox's busy post-presidency has been criticized because former Mexican presidents are traditionally expected to stay out of the public and political spotlight. At the University of Houston, Fox spoke of Mexico's problem with drug violence.

"Drugs are bad for your health, as well as alcohol is, as well as cigarette smoking is. So we have to separate them. You did that in that in this nation back in 1920 by eliminating the prohibition. And then the problem of violence disappeared. So we have to think about the possibility of legalizing consumption of drugs."

Fox told students that they need to assess their purpose in life, because leadership comes from values.